I honestly never wanted this race to end - the riding has been absolutely first rate, the outcome was totally unexpected and with the short, spectator-and-TV friendly circuit courses and excellent online coverage the organisers have done more for women's cycling in only five days than many organisations have achieved in five years; so congratulations on an absolutely first rate job by all the riders and everyone else involved. It looks very much as though a holiday to north-east Nederland is on the cards in April 2013.
Many fans expected Specialized-Lululemon to get Ina-Yoko Teutenberg up to the front in order to hammer home her General Classification victory today and for Rabobank to come together in a serious attempt to propel Marianne Vos back up to the top, but this stage turned out to be all about the lesser-known riders - a number of whom finished within the top ten after a series of effective breaks throughout the race. Meanwhile, Lululemon kept out of the limelight and concentrated on getting Teutenberg to where she needed to be; their clever riding leaving no doubt whatsoever that the GC was hers.
Nicole Cooke (Faren-Honda) scored a superb stage win five years to the day since she won the Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen, powering to the line and gaining a 2" lead over a pursuing group made up of Eveyn Arys (2nd, Kleo), Sarah Düster (Rabobank), Megan Guarnier (TIBCO) and Marieke Van Wanroij (AA-Drink-Leontien.nl) - a much-needed boost for the Welsh rider after a few difficult years in the wake of an illness that badly knocked her performance.
Stage 5
1. Nicole Cooke Faren-Honda 03:27:05
2. Evelyn Arys Kleo +2"
3. Sarah Düster Rabobank ST 4. Megan Guarnier Team TIBCO ST 5. Marieke Van Wanroij AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST 6. Josien Van Wingerden Specialized Dpd SRAM +4" - 7. Jennifer Wheeler Team TIBCO ST 8. Chloe Mcconville +16" 9. Amy Pieters Skil-Argos +2'19" 10. Judith Jelsma WV De Noord-Westhoek ST
Energiewacht Tour Stage 5 Stage report and overall results
Unbelievably, the Energiewacht Tour 2012 is already at an end - which just goes to show that time really does fly when you're having fun, because it's been one of the most fun races in a long time with the short, flat circuits encouraging fast, furious and tactical racing that highlights the professionalism, competitiveness and athleticism of the riders perfectly. Are you listening, National Federations and UCI? This is how women's cycling needs to be done - Energiewacht Tour's organisers have done an admirable job here.
Stage 5 covers 103.3km in total with riders completing three laps of a parcours made up of numerous long, flat stretches with sharp bends between them - not dissimilar to an extended version of Stage 4b, in fact, and with that long stetch to the finish line almost certainly a stage for a sprinter.
The riders set out from the museum in Fraeylemaborg along a street lined with the sort of houses that in the USA are called Dutch Colonial (and here, presumably, "Dutch") and then almost immediately comes to a tight and, by the looks of it, potentially slippery left corner - with the peloton still closely packed just metres from the start, this is a point with an obvious likelihood of accidents. A road called Schlocterdiep leads to a village, Denemarken, and over a canal into a short twisty section before arriving at Eemskanaal (note: visible 60m away on the opposite side of the canal is Woltersum, a village that became subject to a mandatory evacuation in January this year when the dyke showed signs of breaching. A little coincidence, with today also being the day of Paris-Roubaix: the canal is the location of a rowing race known as De Hel van het Noorden - the Hell of the North).
Eemskanal
From this point, the route is almost entirely arrow-straight and pancake flat (well, near enough - according to Aerodata International Surveys there are a number of "hills" as high as 80cm along the way!) - this is the sort of road where clever tactics make little difference and everything comes down to which rider, or more likely which team since this is ideal territory for drafting, can ride the fastest. With the left turn at the end out of the way, the remainder of the circuit is formed of a pair of long, fast U shaped roads leading through Harkstede and to the finish line, which is 16.6km away where the stage began.
The big question is, can Marianne Vos make up the 43" disadvantage she now faces after a less-than ideal performance by Rabobank in the team time trial, and by doing so regain the General Classification leadership and win the race? Those of us who have followed the Dutch woman's career for any length of time can be forgiven for sometimes thinking that Vos can do absolutely anything she chooses, and it does sometimes appear that she can. However, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Specialized-Lululemon) has been on incredibly good form throughout the race and is extremely fast in a sprint. She may prove more than a match for Marianne today. Though all eyes will be on those two, don't forget that Ellen van Dijk (Specialized Lululemon) is ahead of Vos and only 7" behind Teutenberg - there are an infinite number of situations in which overall control could go to her instead.
Follow the official race Twitter @ewachttour for details during each stage and information on the race. Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily - Stages 4b and 5 will be shown on Sunday at 14:30BST (15:30 local time/CEST)
Paris-Roubaix 2012 - click to enlarge or,
for a full-size zoomable .pdf, click here (image credit: ASO)
The three Grand Tours may last a total of nine weeks and cover around 9,000km between them each year, but even combined they come nowhere close to the sheer amount of spectacle, horror and beauty packed into a single day and 257.5km by the legendary Paris-Roubaix - the last of the insanely dangerous, heroic races from cycling's early history. The reason it earned the nickname The Hell of the North is what organisers found along the parcours when they mapped out the route for the first edition after the First World War, an apocalypse that can still be seen in the landscape almost a century later. There's a reason that the race is still known by that name, too.
"The last great madness of cycling." (Jacques Goddet)
Paris-Roubaix is all about pain, and the rider who can most withstand pain has the best chance of winning - unless, that is, fortune is not on his side; if it's not, he'll be just another victim of the cold cobbles of Arenberg or Le Carrefour de l'Arbre or Mons-en-Pévèle or any of the 27 notorious sections that make this race what it is, an event that somehow survived from the days before health and safety regulations. Make no mistake: people are going to be hurt, some of them seriously.
Stage 4a
Strong winds caused havoc and high speeds in equal amounts during the five laps of the Winsum circuit, splitting the pack into seven distinct groups at one point. A group of 17 escaped and was gradually whittled down to 11; but with the likes of Visser (Skil-Argos), Gunnewijk(GreenEDGE), Arndt (GreenEDGE), Kasper (RusVelo), Van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon), Worrack (Specialized-Lululemon), Wild (AA Drink Leontien.nl), Blaak (AA Drink Leontien.nl), Slappendel (Rabobank) and Vos (Rabobank) onboard, their lead just kept on increasing - as they entered the final lap, they had 8'03" on the chasers and didn't show any signs of taking it easy.
Kirsten Wild mounted a solo attack after coming within 2km of the finish line with Trixi Worrack and then Marianne Vos responding - however, neither could catch her and she crossed the line solo. Worrack dropped off and was replaced by Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Specialized-Lululemon) who once again powered past for second and left Vos, who retains her leadership in the General Classification) to take third.
Stage 4b, taking place this afternoon, is a 26.5km team time trial that is expected to prove pivotal in the eventual outcome of the race.
Top Ten
1. Kirsten Wild AA Drink-Leontien.nl 01:42:25
2. Ina Yoko Teutenberg Specialized-Lululemon 00:07
3. Marianne Vos Rabobank ST 4. Judith Arndt GreenEDGE ST 5. Ellen Van Dijk Specialized-Lululemon ST 6. Adrie Visser Skil-Argos ST 7. Romy Kasper RusVelo ST 8. Loes Gunnewijk GreenEDGE ST 9. Chantal Blaak AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST 10. Trixi Worrack Specialized-Lululemon ST
Stage 4b
Specialized-Lululemon win the Team Time Trial, GreenEDGE second and Rabobank third, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Specialized-Lululemon) takes General Classification leadership from Marianne Vos (Rabobank).
General Classification after Stage 4b
1. Ina-Yoko Teutengerg (Specialized-Lululemon) 7h55'21"
2. Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) +7"
3. Marianne Vos (Rabobank) +43" (Full GC here)
Follow the official race Twitter @ewachttour for details during each stage and information on the race. Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily, with the Stage 4a edition being at 14:30 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST). Stage 4b and 5 will be shown on Sunday, also at 14:30. Stage 4b can be seen here (Silverlight required).
Stage 4a (Saturday 7th) both starts and ends at Winsum, a town sometimes termed the treasure of the north according to the Tour website - with two traditional Dutch mills and what is reputed to be The Netherlands' oldest pub (Der Gouden Karper) set among quintessentially Dutch countryside.
The parcours leaves Winsom to the north, travelling up to Baflo and then taking a long, fast loop west and south-west to Mensingeweer. Next, it heads east along a road called the Wildeveldseweg (which must sound fantastic in a Dutch accent). Just visible to the south-west from this point is Ezinge, the oldest continually-inhabited village in the country.
Long before the ancient tribes who would become the Dutch worked out how to drain the boggy landscape, they would create artificial islands upon which to live (now known as terps and, since drainage, resembling low hills) - the example at Ezinge is still evident and is now occupied by the village's 13th Century church. During the early 20th Century, worked who dug peat for fuel began finding strange objects that were obviously of great age in the area, soon attracting the attention of archaeologists who found many more - including Roman artifacts and part of a sword almost identical to another dicovered at the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Great Britain. By dating the objects, they determined that people have lived in Ezinge since at least 600BCE, making it among the oldest continually-inhabited villages anywhere in Europe. The riders will complete five laps of the route, which should allow Ezinge to be seen even if there is early morning mist, bringing them up to a total of 76.6km.
Stage 4b, the team time trial, takes place on Saturday afternoon and covers 26.5km, beginning at Veendam some way off to the south-east from 4a. After beginning in the centre of the town on JG Pinksterstraat (53° 6'19.91"N 6°52'27.74"E), the teams pass through the streets and cross the canal, then the N33 motorway as they head into the flat fields. A route made up of fast straights punctuated with 25 bends and corners will make for a fast stage, but one in which a slower rider could very easily be dropped off the back of the squad and never find her way back. When they arrive at Oude Pekela, they follow Feiko Clockstraat into town, then turn left to arrive at the finish on Raadhuislaan (53° 6'17.39"N 7° 0'24.65"E).
Marianne Vos has pointed out that Stage 4b is likely to prove the pivotal point in the campaign of any rider - including herself - who hopes to win this race, because a race leader's General Classification advantage can very rapidly be wiped out by a slow team. For fans and rivals, this is our first opportunity to see how well the Rabobank Women's team, which was formed with the express intention of supporting Vos, performs under team time trial race conditions; making this stage one of the most important races so far this season.
Cyclopunk's prediction: GreenEDGE take the stage, but with an insufficient advantage to knock Marianne off the top spot in the GC
Weather: The riders face a chilly start to the day - it's currently only 4C at Baflo, and with a northerly wind of 25kph it feels more like -2C, possibly -4C in exposed places. At present, it's raining lightly - it should dry up later, but further showers are likely. Veendam looks set to be similar, though afternoon temperatures of 7C will at least feel above freezing though not by much, perhaps 3C.
As ever, the best way to get information during the race is by following the official Twitter @ewacttour, hashtag #EWT12 and @richiesteege.Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily: Stage 4a will be shown at 14:45 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST), Stage 4b will be shown along with Stage 5 tomorrow at the same time.
Stage 6 - click to enlarge (image credit: Diario Vasco)
Far away to the south, the Tour of the Basque Country enters its sixth and final stage (final stage? Seriously? How did that happened already?!). It's an 18.9km individual time trial and the only stage in this race without mountains, though there are two small hills to take the edge off top speeds.
By the looks of things, it's going to be a a very interesting stage, too: a look at the General Classification reveals numerous riders who could win overall simply by winning today - the top 17 riders are all within a minute of one another. Climbers Joaquin Rodriguez (currently 1st in GC, Katusha) and Samuel Sanchez (currently 2nd, Euskaltel-Euskadi) have got some serious work to do today, not just if either one of them would like to win this year but simply in order to finish in the top 10.
So you're racing Tony Martin in an
individual time trial? Good luck with
that one, chaps. (image credit: Petit BrunCC BY-SA 2.0)
Will they do it? Hard to say. The riders currently in the top positions are, unsurprisingly, almost all climbers; but there are some good all-rounders seeded among them - Michele Scarponi (5th, Lampre-ISD), Ryder Hesjedal (8th, Garmin-Barracuda), Chris Horner (10th, RadioShack-Nissan). Most dangerous of all, however, is Tony Martin of Omega Pharma-QuickStep. 56" is a big gap to make up, but Martin is the man who took the World Time Trial Championship from Fabian Cancellara. If anyone can do it, Martin's your man.
Weather: More rain. Worse still, it'll come as scattered showers, so some riders may have enjoy a dry course while others have to tackle it wet - which can make all the difference and lose the race. Currently, the temperature in Onati is a chilly 6C, which probably feels more like 0C with the 17kph westerly wind. It should warm up to around 12C this afternoon and, since the wind will change to south-west (coming over land rather than sea) it'll feel like 12C too.
Euskal Irrati Telebista provide a free and legal stream of the race each day from 14:15 (BST - add 1h for CEST).
Another day full of attacks, breaks and serious high speed with the pack splitting apart then coming back together time and time again as they completed six laps around the Oldambtmeer lake in the north-western corner of the Netherlands.
Irina Molicheva was star of the show and earned the respect of her RusVelo team sponsors after making an impressive attempt at a solo break and briefly gaining an advantage of 15" before a group of seven chasers went after her and brought her back tot he bunch. Around 30 riders led by Chantal Blaak (AA Drink-Leontien.nl), Kirsten Wild (AA Drink-Leontien.nl), Adrie Visser (Skil-Argos) and Loes Gunnewijk (GreenEDGE) got away with 25km to go, then the result seemed narrowed down to a choice of four when Judith Arndt (GreenEDGE), Visser, Annemiek van Vleuten (Rabobank) and Emilia Fahlin (Specialized-Lululemon) split off when the end came within 8km.
However, they too were caught rapidly as the peloton began the last approach to the finish line and Marianne Vos (Rabobank), Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Specialized-Lululemon) and Kirsten Wild began a three-woman duel. Many will have been expecting Vos to win, but it was Teutenberg who had the explosive power needed to take the sprint as she nudged Vos into second and take her second consecutive victory.
Vos continues to lead the General Classification, increasing her advantage to 32". (More to come...)
1. Ina Yoko Teutenberg Specialized-Lululemon 02h41'09"
2. Marianne Vos Rabobank ST
3. Kirsten Wild AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST 4. Laura Van Der Kamp Dolmans-Boels ST 5. Evelyn Arys Kleo ST 6. Romy Kasper RusVelo ST 7. Leah Kirchmann ST 8. Adrie Visser Skil-Argos ST 9. Rochelle Gilmore Faren-Honda Team ST 10. Anna Van Der Breggen Sengers ST (Full results)
Follow the official race Twitter @ewachttour for details during each stage and information on the race. Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily, today's being at 16:45 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST). It's also available online here (Silverlight required).
As expected on the flat Bad Nieuweschans parcours, today's 107.3km stage was dominated by a group of fast riders who escaped the peloton away early on - and since that break included the likes of Adrie Visser, Iris Slappendel, Annemiek van Vleuten, Marianne Vos and 18 other fast favourites, the rest of the field really had no chance at all of sending a rider up to win this one.
Sofie Verdonck (Dura Vermeer-Zuidwesthoek) and Sandra van Veghal (Specialized-DPD-SRAM) had what looked to be a nasty crash, race organisers later noticing a wing mirror missing from a car parked at the side of the road which seems a likely cause. There's no information on their well-being as of yet, but it'll be added here as soon as possible.
With the 22 leaders off up the road, the field began to break apart as the race progressed and gradually formed into several distinct groups. The second pack arrived at the finish 3'44" behind the leaders, then the third 6'02" with various riders coming in either alone, in pairs or in groups afterwards
Rabobank's Marianne Vos now leads
the General Classification
First over the line Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Specialized-Lululemon), beating Kirsten Wild (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) and Marianne Vos (Rabobank) in a fast and furious sprint - Teutenberg's first win of the year and the latest in what has been a fantastic first season for an already great team. Vos - who only recovered from 'flu a day or two before this race began, remember - now moves into overall leadership.
Top Ten
1. Ina Yoko Teutenberg Specialized-Lululemon 02:35:50
2. Kirsten Wild AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
3. Marianne Vos Rabobank ST 4. Adrie Visser Skil-Argos ST 5. Elizabeth Armitstead AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST 6. Laura Van Der Kamp Dolmans-Boels ST 7. Ellen Van Dijk Team Specialized- ululemon ST 8. Romy Kasper RusVelo ST 9. Annemiek Van Vleuten Rabobank ST 10. Trixi Worrack Specialized-Lululemon ST
Follow the official race Twitter @ewachttour for details during each stage and information on the race. Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily, today's being at 16:45 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST). It's also available online here (Silverlight required).
Kristin Armstrong rode an excellent time trial to begin this years' edition of the Dutch race, completing the 15.1km in 19'42" and beating Clara Hughes and Marianne Vos into second and third place. Whether she can retain her lead on today's parcours remains to be seen - it's similarly flat, but with more corners and apparently more suited to Dutch champion Vos.
Held in Bad Nieuweschans (53°10'60.00"N 7°11'60.00"E), it takes us further out into the countryside andcovers 107.3km with four circuits of the route; making a sortie over the border into Germany. Once again, there are no hills, which makes this an ideal parcours for a breakaway - a group of fast riders who manage to get away early on and keep going might just succeed in escaping the peloton for the rest of the race, but with that 2.2km flat prior to the last set of corners before the finish they'll have their work cut out for them as the stage reaches its climax.
Local TV RTL7 is broadcasting a short highlights show daily, today's being at 16:45 BST (+1 hour for local time/CEST). Follow @ewachttour for regular updates before and during the race. Official site here.
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco Stage 4
The Tour of the Basque Country is already more than half completed with the riders today facing a selection of flat sections and peaks in Stage 4. They begin at Eibar - in the town, rather than from the mountain upon which Samual Sancez won yesterday - then enjoy 20km of flat riding before reaching Cat 3 Alto de Itziar. The earlier part of the stage runs partially along the beautiful Basque Country coastline, making this stage one of the highlights of the race.
Stage 4 (click to enlarge) (image credit: Diario Vasco)
At only 225m, Itziar isn't much of an obstacle and won't be likely to put too great a dent into the advantage of any breakaway that succeeds in escaping the peloton during the route there - and with around another 50 flat kilometres on the other side, a break might prove able to stay away for a good chunk of the stage. Chances are it'll meet its doom at 85km, though, because Alto de Aritxulegi is a much tougher climb; rated Cat 2 and topping out at 440m it's very capable of finishing off any rider who has expended too much energy earlier in the race. Alto di Agina lurks just beyond it, another Cat 2 and higher at 545m (though as the ascent begins at higher altitude, there's less climbing to be done) and then there's another Cat 2 in the shape of Alto de Ibardin just a short way off.
The final 26km features a couple of small hills, nothing likely to cause problems, and as such could prove encouragement for a late break in addition to plenty of scope for the peloton to work on bringing it back. However, the stage ends with another Cat 1 summit finish, this time into Bera-Ibardan - and it's a hard one, with a short stretch in the final couple of kilometres that's almost too steep for goats, never mind bikes. Yesterday, Sanchez showed us how good a climber he is. As he combines that ability with a skill most unusual among climbers, an ability to descend fast, he could well make use of the mountains along the parcours today to get himself into the right place for another unbeatable assault on the finish line. (Map from Steephill)
Rain is forecast throughout the stage with temperatures unlikely to rise much above 9C. Winds should be light, but it'll be chillier on the mountaintops.
Euskal Irrati Telebista provide a free and legal stream of the race each day from 14:15 (BST - add 1h for CEST).
Numerous injuries at Scheldeprijs
Several riders were hurt in yesterday's Scheldeprijs, the worst being SaxoBank's Jonathan Cantwell who was left with fractured ribs and a punctured lung after a pile-up caused when a rider lost control on the wet roads and careered into Taz Darling, a photographer working for Roleur magazine. Darling received even worse injuries and is now in hospital with fractures to her collar bone and eye socket and a ruptured spleen. Vacansoleil-DCM's Wouter Mol also sustained a broken collar bone after crashing 8km before the finish line. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to all of them.
Rouleur @rouleurmagazine
Latest on Taz: she is out of surgery and doing well but in a lot of pain. So many kind messages, thank you all.
Tweets
Luuc Eisenga @EisengaLSteven Kruijswijk won't start today's stage, due to a viral infection. Couple of days rest, programm remains unchanged. @RaboCycling(Retweeted by Rabo Cycling)
The first women's stage race of the European season, Energiwacht Tour begins on Wednesday the 4th of April at Appingdam in Groningnen. It's not an especially well-known race outside the Netherlands and the world of women's cycling; however, since it brings together the very cream of the crop for six stages (one split), it ought to be: the 2011 edition, won by Adrie Visser, was one of the highlights of the season. Take a look at the placings - with riders such as those finishing in the top 20, it was top-notch racing all the way.
Fast and furious - last year's edition
This year, the race has grown to five days - a promising sign in these times when so many races are disappearing for lack of sponsorship or, worse, interest. There's not much in the way of hills in this part of the world (in fact, at a few points along the way the riders will be below sea level), which makes some people think the race will be boring. That couldn't be further from the truth - flat stages such as these promote breakaways and attacks, leading to a fast and furious sort of race, and with a large field of well-matched riders we can expect some very exciting competition. In the final stage, we're likely to see a different sort of racing in which good team trial tactics work well: it's a parcours made up of several very long, very straight and very fast sections where the best plan is also the simplest - stick with the team, get your head down and concentrate on turning the pedals. A full list of the teams and riders (subject to change - Martine Bras and Irene van den Broek definitely won't be there) is available here.
So, unless you only like mountains, this race pretty much has everything covered. Unfortunately, there seems to be no live coverage of the race but video may appear online after each stage - if it does, it'll be added to the daily stage reports on this blog. Local TV station RTL7 has some limited coverage, details can be found at the bottom of this article, and there's a promo video at Podium Cafe to get you in the mood.
Stage 1 (Wednesday 6th) is a 15.1km individual time trial heading west out of Appingdam (53°19'13.91"N 6°50'48.52"E) and through the flat pastureland to Garrelsweer (53°18'48.25"N 6°47'0.82"E) where it turns east to head back, following the canal past some grand country houses. With good roads and no hills, it promises to be a very fast parcours indeed - definitely territory for the time trial specialists.
Stage 2 (Thursday 7th) starts and ends at Bad Nieuweschans (53°10'60.00"N 7°11'60.00"E). It takes us further out into the countryside, covering 107.3km over four circuits of the route and making a sortie over the border into Germany. Once again, there are no hills, which makes this an ideal parcours for a breakaway - a group of fast riders who manage to get away early on and keep going might just succeed in escaping the peloton for the rest of the race, but with the flat run to the finish they'll have their work cut out for them as the stage reaches its climax.
Stage 3 (Friday 6th) consists of six laps of an 18.4km circuit around the Oldambtmeer lake (53°10'16.18"N 7° 1'31.82"E). It begins on Hoofdstraat by a church (53°11'40.37"N 7° 0'36.38"E), then heads briefly south before rounding the southern edge of the lake. When at the eastern end, they turn north and follow the N967 to Oostwold and then west along Huningaweg, back to Hoofdstraat and on to the finish line located at the same point they started. It's another very flat parcours, with a straight and slightly downhill initial section that will promote fast starts and encourage breaks. If they don't, expect attacks aplenty - especially in the last lap as the riders try to gain an upper hand before it's too late.
Stage 4a (Saturday 7th) both starts and ends at Winsum, a town sometimes termed the treasure of the north according to the Tour website - with two traditional Dutch mills and what is reputed to be The Netherlands' oldest pub (Der Gouden Karper) set among quintessentially Dutch countryside. The parcours leaves Winsom to the north, travelling up to Baflo and then taking a long, fast loop west and south-west to Mensingeweer. Next, it heads east along a road called the Wildeveldseweg (which must sound fantastic in a Dutch accent). Just visible to the south-west from this point is Ezinge, the oldest continually-inhabited village in the country. Long before the ancient tribes who would become the Dutch worked out how to drain the boggy landscape, they would create artificial islands upon which to live (now known as terps and, since drainage, resembling low hills) - the example at Ezinge is still evident and is now occupied by the village's 13th Century church. During the early 20th Century, worked who dug peat for fuel began finding strange objects that were obviously of great age in the area, soon attracting the attention of archaeologists who found many more - including Roman artifacts and part of a sword almost identical to another dicovered at the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Great Britain. By dating the objects, they determined that people have lived in Ezinge since at least 600BCE, making it among the oldest continually-inhabited villages anywhere in Europe. The riders will complete five laps of the route, which should allow Ezinge to be seen even if there is early morning mist, bringing them up to a total of 76.6km.
Stage 4b takes place on Saturday afternoon, a 26.5km team time trial located at Veendam some way off to the south-east from 4a. After beginning in the centre of the town on JG Pinksterstraat (53° 6'19.91"N 6°52'27.74"E), the teams pass through the streets and cross the canal, then the N33 motorway as they head into the flat fields. A route made up of fast straights punctuated with 17 right-angled bends and corners will make for a fast stage, but one in which a slower rider could very easily be dropped off the back of the squad and never find her way back. When they arrive at Oude Pekela, they follow Feiko Clockstraat into town, then turn left to arrive at the finish on Raadhuislaan (53° 6'17.39"N 7° 0'24.65"E).
Stage 5 (Sunday 8th) covers 103.3km in total with riders completing three laps of a parcours made up of numerous long, flat stretches with sharp bends between them - not dissimilar to an extended version of Stage 4b, in fact, and almost a stage for a sprinter. The riders set out from the museum in Fraeylemaborg along a street lined with the sort of houses that in the USA are called Dutch Colonial (and here, presumably, "Dutch") and then almost immediately comes to a tight and, by the looks of it, potentially slippery left corner - with the peloton still closely packed just metres from the start, this is a point with an obvious likelihood of accidents. A road called Schlocterdiep leads to a village, Denemarken, and over a canal into a short twisty section before arriving at Eemskanaal. From this point, the route is almost entirely arrow-straight and pancake flat (well, near enough - according to Aerodata International Surveys there are a number of "hills" as high as 80cm along the way!) - this is the sort of road where clever tactics make little difference and everything comes down to which rider, or more likely which team since this is ideal territory for drafting, can ride the fastest. With the left turn at the end out of the way, the remainder of the circuit is formed of a pair of long, fast U shaped roads leading through Harkstede and to the finish line, which is 16.6km away where the stage began.
Predictions
2011 winner Adrie Visser, now riding for Skil-1t4i (image credit: Highroad Sports)
At this end of the race, it seems hard to see past Rabobank, probably the most well-drilled team in women's cycling right now - especially since the team reported on Tuesday afternoon that Marianne Vos has recovered from the illness that kept her away from the Ronde van Vlaanderen and will be back for this race. We've seen that this is a parcours that favours attacks and sprints, and when it comes down to transmitting sheer power through the chain and back wheel into the road, Vos is without equal. Rabo hasn't put all its eggs in one musette, either - should Vos be forced to abandon, Iris Slappendel and Annemiek van Vleuten are more than capable of taking the race. AA Drink-Leontien.nl are a squad worth watching too, as would be any team that was sending both lightning fast Lizzie Armitstead and Kirsten Wilde. Specialized-Lululemon have Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, another experienced rider who specialises in power, and Clara Hughes - anyone who rememebers Hughes' spectacular solo break at the Copenhagen World Championships will not be surprised if she picks up points and perhaps even a stage win. GreenEDGE have been on a winning streak since the start of the season and with Loes Gunnewijk (second place last year) and Judith Arndt onboard, that state of affairs may continue. Nicole Cooke of Faren-Honda is another rider who is very good at riding bikes very fast - she too is likely to do well. Finally, Skil-1t4i, the team led by last year's winner Adrie Visser.
To sum up, Vos is top choice (just as she is in any race, regardless of the terrain); but there are numerous riders who will chase her all the way - and when conditions are right, each of them is capable of performing exceptionally well.
RTL7 coverage
Note times are CET - minus 1 hour for BST (image credit:Energiwacht Tour)
